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Published May 2016
256 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
From two-time Caine Prize finalist Elnathan John, a dynamic young voice from Nigeria, Born on a Tuesday is a stirring, starkly rendered first novel about a young boy struggling to find his place in a society that is fracturing along religious and political lines.
In far northwestern Nigeria, Dantala lives among a gang of street boys who sleep under a kuka tree. During the election, the boys are paid by the Small Party to cause trouble. When their attempt to burn down the opposition's local headquarters ends in disaster, Dantala must run for his life, leaving his best friend behind. He makes his way to a mosque that provides him with food, shelter, and guidance. With his quick aptitude and modest nature, Dantala becomes a favored apprentice to the mosque's sheikh.
Before long, he is faced with a terrible conflict of loyalties, as one of the sheikh's closest advisors begins to raise his own radical movement. When bloodshed erupts in the city around him, Dantala must decide what kind of Muslim - and what kind of man - he wants to be.
Told in Dantala's naïve, searching voice, this astonishing debut explores the ways in which young men are seduced by religious fundamentalism and violence.
Paperback original.
"Starred Review. An action-packed, heartbreaking, and eye-opening debut from a great new talent." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. John has written a stunning, important coming-of-age story." - Publishers Weekly
"Nigerian author John's story is an absorbing and sometimes disquieting look inside the contemporary Muslim world." - Booklist
"With brave, unflinching candor expressed through spare, unadorned prose, Elnathan John considers the rise of Islamic extremism in Nigeria as experienced by one young man. Anyone seeking to peer beyond the media's portrayals of Boko Haram must read this book, not because it offers a hopeful account but because it offers a human one." - Taiye Selasi, author of Ghana Must Go
"Elnathan John's first novel is an ambitious book that tackles modern Nigeria's extremely complex religious landscape with great insight, passion, and humor by taking us deep into the mental and emotional space of the country's most neglected." - Uzodinma Iweala, author of Beasts of No Nation
"Elnathan John's beautifully written novel is a moving and deeply felt debut from a writer of prodigious talent." - Petina Gappah, author of The Book of Memory
"Elnathan John's debut coming of age novel is a striking and unnervingly assured depiction of a complex and tumultuous world. John's writing is controlled and lucid, full of compassion yet fiercely unerring." - Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins
"Working in the tradition of Achebe, Elnathan John has penned a coming of age novel worthy of Twain. At times tragic, at times humorous, Born on a Tuesday is the story of those who find the courage to transcend violence even when born to its confines." - Elliot Ackerman, author of Green on Blue
This information about Born on a Tuesday was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Elnathan John is a Nigerian lawyer who quit his job in 2012 to write full-time. In 2013, he was short-listed for the Caine Prize for African Writing for his story "Bayan Layi" and was again named a finalist in 2015. He is a 2015 Civitella Ranieri Fellow, writes a satiric column about politics and life for a Nigerian weekly newspaper, and has had work published in Per Contra, Financial Times, Le Monde Diplomatique, Chimurenga's Chronic, Hazlitt, and the Evergreen Review. He lives in Nigeria's capital city, Abuja.
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